Happiness and Disappointment
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. ~ Winston Churchill
Things go wrong, or at least not the way you want them to, this is just a fact of life. For most of us, when something goes wrong we indulge ourselves to try to make ourselves feel better. Some of us drink, some of us shop, a lot of us, including me, turn to comfort food. For me that is a large New York style pizza and a very large Coke. Unfortunately for some us, and even myself in the past, we often turn to even more destructive behaviors. Most of what we do is designed to make us feel good in the moment, to take our mind away from what is making us unhappy.
Today I’m writing to propose a new way, an experiment if you will that I am personally conducting for myself. Let’s all take a longer range vision and stop being so focused on how you feel in this moment, and think about how you’ll feel tomorrow or next week. Instead of trying not to feel unhappy in the moment let’s work on being happier in the long run. Often when we sit down on the couch after bad news or disappointment and plunge our spoons into the half-gallon of NY Super Fudge Chunk ice cream, we find that we feel terrible about it the next day. It is even more evident for those who drink and wake up the next morning to a pounding head and unstable stomach.
So instead of feeling bad the next day, let’s try and feel good next week. So today, instead of heading out after work and buying a large pizza and a very large bottle of Coke, I’m trying something new. So this morning I brought in a present to my office, Girl Scout cookies, thin mints to be exact, for them, not me to enjoy although I’ll have to sneak one or two. At lunch I’m heading out to a salad and soup place and if I weren’t hobbling around on a busted foot at the moment it would absolutely be a gym night. Instead tonight, I’ll see a movie and then focus on my meditation.
Hopefully tomorrow, I’ll wake up feeling better, time away from a disappointment often allows for that, and feel even better, even happier for having done some positive things today. I’ll let you know how it turns out, have a happy day my friends.
The greatest happiness is to transform one’s feelings into action. ~ Madame de Stael
Other Posts You Might Enjoy!
Remember the Sweet Things – The best story you’ll ever hear!
Happiness, Worry & The Dalai Lama’s Thoughts
The Ministry of Happiness 
I hope it goes well for you. Let us know how it all worked out